FC Dallas's Guarda goes through PDL to get to MLS

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, July 6, 2009

For anybody on the West Texas United team who has dreams of playing for a Major League Soccer team, all they have to do is look at FC Dallas midfielder Bruno Guarda.

From 2006-2008, Guarda played for the Dallas-Fort Worth Tornados out of the Premier Development League's Mid-South Division. He also played in college at SMU from 2004-2006.

Guarda, who played against the Sockers on Tuesday night in an exhibition game at Grande Communications Stadium said it was games like this one that helped him get a step up in his professional career.

"We (DFW) played games against FC Dallas all the time," Guarda said. "I also played against them with SMU. It was a great opportunity for us to show our potential. It's one of those games where you have to stand up, have a great game and show you deserve to be one of those players."

Now Guarda is the pro. His advice to the Sockers players on Tuesday is to continue to work hard and take advantage of situations like these.

"I'm the same guy, playing the same soccer, working hard every day," Guarda said. "I wish them the best. This is one of those chances where they play a great game, an awesome game and they've got a chance to play at the next level."

Guarda is actually one of two FC Dallas players who came out of the PDL. Defender Drew Moore is the other. He played for the Chicago Fire out of the PDL's Great Lakes Division in 2004.

"I enjoyed playing PDL," Moore said. "I used it for training. I played with six or seven guys who are playing in the MLS now. I played in the PDL because I wanted a chance to compete and show coaches what I could do."

FC Dallas has made it a habit to play exhibition games against semi-pro teams. This is the second time the Sockers and FC Dallas have met. The Sockers also played against them in Frisco.

FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said he looks very closely at games like these to both help his players get quality minutes and to scout other team's talent.

"We're looking at this as an opportunity to see some players that we normally don't see," Hyndman said. "It does give us a chance not only to get our players healthy and play another game that doesn't count but we also get a chance to evaluate the opposition to see if there is any talent we might find."